Hacker News Reader

Comment by JoeAltmaier | Hacker News Reader

Trust Norwegians to do something so profoundly silly.

I predict the collection estimated to continue to 2113 won't survive this decade.

And who will be reading paper books in 100 years? Who will know how to make them from trees? Will those trees survive development?

NO, those questions are interesting or thought-provoking. They are obvious. Nobody, nobody, no are the answers. The world is moving on so fast and so hard, reading may not even be a thing then. You want to imagine something, imagine that.

View on HN

Where this kind of hostility to an entirely benign project comes from?

Unnecessary attacks like this often stem from an underdeveloped ego and lack of self-esteem. Such people can develop an overly critical mindset because it protects their own ego and helps them feel like they are better. Generalisations (e.g. "Trust Norwegians...") are often involved in criticism that stems from insecurity, since it gives the attack a false veneer of objectivity and obviousness.

And sometimes it stems from a sense of total despair seeing the majority of humanity actively fight for "their right" to continue killing our literal life support system (the very planet upon which we live). Not saying that's what this guy is or is not on about, but from my own personal experience, I know I go off on hostile rants over exactly that. It sometimes feels insulting to read about "the future" when it's clear there may not be a future for much longer unless humanity as a whole pulls it's collective head out of it's collective nether-parts rather soon…

It's understandable to feel angry when you perceive people seeing or prioritizing things differently you. Nevetheless a hostile rant is something you're doing to protect and make yourself feel better.

I'm not sure you've read the article?

Even in 100 years, people hiking through remote wilderness will prefer paper maps that won't run out of charge or have software bugs. Arguably we may find a better synthetic material to print them on, but paper is a damn good solution right now.

Batteries increase in capacity by 5% per year. They will be 1.05^100 = 132 times the capacity of the batteries of today. This does not include increases to energy efficiency, which will possibly be even greater. In other words, smart watch batteries will probably last as long as digital watch batteries do today. By then, smart phones will be about as relevant as a palm pilot.

For someone that is preparing for all eventualities, paper will be preferable to something with months or even years worth of charge.

Given that space shuttles now use a touchscreen it's fair to assume you're wrong. One hundred years will likely bring us a brain interface. You're thinking too small.

https://mashable.com/article/nasa-updates-international-spac...

> Ever since the International Space Station (ISS) welcomed its first residents in November of 2000, there have been printers on board.

> Astronauts use them to print out critical mission information, emergency evacuation procedures and, sometimes, photos from home. According to NASA, they print roughly 1,000 pages a month on two printers; one is installed on the U.S. side of the ISS, the other in the Russian segment.

There are 7 astronauts on the ISS currently, equating to about 5 printouts per person per day.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com